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Gallery 2
Ever wanted to put an atmo V12 into an X5? Probably not, but BMW did it anyway.
After a victory at the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1999, BMW took the donk out of the racecar and put it into a stripped-out family SUV. Hot-rodding is easy when you’re a huge German company.
Considering the current X5M and X6M claim 4.2 seconds, that’s not at all shabby for the year 2000.
And it sounds glorious. As a V12 should.
In the video at the top of this page – which is in German and looks as old as the X5 itself – BMW put ex-F1 driver Hans-Joachim Stuck in the X5 LeMans and sent him off for a lively run on the Nurburgring.
What is most immediately obvious is that the X5 LeMans is very, very fast.
Bonus points to Stuck for getting the thing airborne – check out 2:10 in the video above.
Seven minutes and fifty seconds. In 2000. With a top speed of 310km/h.
For context, the Porsche 911 Carrera S did it in 7:50 as well. But that was in 2008.
